


Chaotic Good

by mybrothers_keeper



Category: Critical Role
Genre: Angst and Humor, Caleb Widogast Needs a Hug, Fjord Has Feelings (Critical Role), M/M, Mute!Caleb Widogast (but only for a little while lol), fucking have fun you beautiful people, idk wtf else
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25980754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mybrothers_keeper/pseuds/mybrothers_keeper
Summary: Caleb looks back down at his hand clutching the stone, white knuckled, and curses soundlessly. He gets to his feet, stowing the stone in his coat pocket, and spies Fjord aiming a blast of eldritch energy at the golem slowly rocketing through open space, it’s face directing a blue ray of light a few feet off the platform and moving closer.He rushes forward, grabs the shoulder plate of Fjords armor, and yanks him back toward the sparkling doorway. Fjord yelps in surprise as his two blasts go wide, one scraping the golems arm and the other missing it entirely. Caleb ducks through the door, Fjord in tow, just before the blue ray passes over the island.The world goes dark for a moment and then he’s spit out into a room of stone. He topples forward, Fjord close behind and nearly collapsing on top of him.“Fuck...”——————————————Hello all! None of these characters are mine, obviously, and the world is one of the amazing Matt Mercer’s making, my imagination is only inhabiting it for a little while.Everyone is welcome, everyone is loved!BLACK LIVES MATTEREnjoy! 😁
Relationships: Fjord/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 11
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

Caleb feels his entire body tense as the golem's hand flies forward and latches around his throat and he closes his eyes, anticipating the crushing pain. Instead, he hears two tiny clicks, some whirring, and the golem releases him. A heavy weight settles around his neck, snug and uncomfortably rigid, but he doesn’t give it too much thought before he’s diving off of Fjord’s back, motioning and saying the incantation for Polymorph that he knows by heart. 

Once again, he anticipates the sudden gust that comes with catching wind beneath his wings and suddenly feeling stones lighter, but as he’s partway through the incantation it strikes him as odd that he cannot hear his own voice. 

For the first time in what feels like an eternity but is actually only eighteen seconds, he opens his eyes. And he is falling in the vast, monotonous, pitch-black void. 

Somewhere far away, his friends are calling out and casting and clambering and a golem is rocketing towards them, but all Caleb sees is the expanse beneath him, around him, swallowing him, suffocating him- 

And then a blur of feathers sweeps beneath him and catches not only his limp body but Fjord as well, who apparently also decided to jump off the grinding gear after receiving a face full of poisonous gas. 

The impact is hard, but he and Fjord grab immediately onto thick feathers. Caleb, despite himself, starts muttering under his breath, straining his ears, simply trying to hear his own voice, for once in the world rather than in his head. But there is only Jester’s frantic hooting and flapping as she dumps both he and Fjord onto the floating island with their exit door, which is pulsing with purple-tinted energy. He rolls unceremoniously, thankfully far from the edges, and immediately produces his transmuter stone. He lifts it, momentarily considering trying to cast Polymorph again before he swallows and feels even that minimal action hindered by the collar around his throat. Without another thought, he raises the stone and slams it into the metal, again and again, and again. Trying to find the lock or trying to weaken the metal, trying to will it away, and while each impact causes a dull ache, he can’t help the desperation he turns to when he realizes how completely vulnerable he is, not only without his voice but without his magic. 

As he frantically bludgeons the collar, a shout rings out far to his right, Beau, “Just go! Go! We’ll catch up!”

His head whips in that direction and he sees Jester the owl flapping wildly, not accustomed to the strange shifts in gravity, hoisting Caduceus by the shoulders. 

Caleb looks back down at his hand clutching the stone, white-knuckled, and curses soundlessly. He gets to his feet, stowing the stone in his coat pocket, and spies Fjord aiming a blast of eldritch energy at the golem slowly rocketing through open space, its face directing a blue ray of light a few feet off the platform and moving closer. He rushes forward, grabs the shoulder plate of Fjord’s armor, and yanks him back toward the sparkling doorway. Fjord yelps in surprise as his two blasts go wide, one scraping the golem's arm and the other missing it entirely. Caleb ducks through the door, Fjord in tow, just before the blue ray passes over the platform. The world goes dark for a moment and then he’s spit out into a room of stone. He topples forward, Fjord close behind and nearly collapsing on top of him. 

“Fuck...” Fjord croaks, sitting up slightly and rubbing at his chest. Caleb turns quickly to make sure no one is coming through the door behind them, but when he looks back there is no door, only a barren stone wall, chipped and riddled with cracks.

Habitually, his hands reach up to push stray hair out of his eyes as he exhales silently. 

_Fuck_ , Caleb mouths.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, dudes! Glad to have you along for this very confusing ride. My advice? Sit back and enjoy the fuckening. ❤️🙃

* * *

Immediately, his slender fingers find the mechanism on the back of the collar, blindly fiddling with a lock he is surely incapable of picking. It might even be magic. He swears to himself again.

“Oh shit,“ Fjord drawls from beside him, voice laced with concern. “When did that happen?”

Caleb, who’s brows are knit in concentration, opens his mouth to reply and seems caught off guard by his own silence. He groans inaudibly, dragging his already cramped hands down his grime-stained face.

“Hey, are you hurt?” Fjord asks, leaning forward to get a better look at the irate wizard's expression. “Caleb?”

Caleb scowls in response, hands flitting nervously about his forearms and scratching at them distractedly. Gesturing at the collar he mouths, _I can’t speak. Can’t cast._

Fjord's eyes widen a fraction, he must’ve understood, and his head swivels out of Caleb's vision as he moves to inspect the collar for himself. Caleb jumps when he feels warm fingers move aside his hair and brush against the back of his neck. Fjord gives the collar a gentle experimental tug and Caleb inhales sharply, panicked. His own hands shoot up to wedge between the metal and his throat, but there’s little room and he has to remind himself that Fjord is his friend, his family, and he wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. He _wouldn’t_. 

Caleb reaches back to shove Fjord's hands away, turning to face him to mouth, _We’ll wait for Nott._

He doesn’t add that he’s doubtful even someone as skilled as Nott will be able to remove the offending metal, but the thought still lurks in the back of his mind. and he grimaces, refusing to even begin to imagine himself living without his magic. 

Fjord nods his agreement, though his gaze stays affixed to the collar. “But you’re fine otherwise? Not gravely injured, on the cusp of collapse, bleeding underneath that new fancy coat?” His tone is light but his words carry a heaviness that Caleb understands as worry. 

_Ja, fine_ , Caleb responds, hoping the sudden feeling of constriction around his throat is just his imagination. 

Fjord’s solemn expression cracks the tiniest bit for one of his classic smiles, but his clouded eyes betray him. They both rise from their crouching positions to glance around the room and take in the rounded out chamber with stone walls and a strange almost checkerboard floor, discolored stone tiles every other step. There’s a pedestal in the center of the room and sitting atop it is a cloth covered contraption neither of them can identify in the low lighting. When they look up towards the ceiling, they see only darkness. It doesn’t go unnoticed by Caleb that there also doesn’t appear to be another obvious doorway out. 

He itches to reach in his component pouch for a pinch of phosphorus to summon his beloved globules or to mutter an incantation to detect any magic around him, but he knows the results would only upset him.

They both take a tentative step forward, wary in the absence of Nott’s expertise and a sixth magic sense. Fjord picks up a piece of chipped off wall and then considers the room around him, eventually coming to a conclusion and tossing the stone into the open space. They freeze and wait, and when nothing happens, Caleb looks up and catches Fjord’s worried gaze, _Any other ideas?_

“If Beau were here she’d probably do some crazy ass parkour and, like, bounce off the walls to get to the middle.”

Caleb ignores the sudden flash of panic he feels at the mention of their friend, how much time seems to have passed since he was sure she and everyone else was safe, and instead raises his eyebrows and gestures widely to his less than impressive physique. 

“I guess you’re right. Something else, then.” 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again lovelies!
> 
> I feel like I should say upfront that I rarely have real, concrete plans when it comes to these things and I’m dealing the hits as well as taking them as they come.
> 
> I so appreciate your positivity and your feedback and your participation! I was so nervous to begin with, but now it feels a little less like a leap of faith. I hope I don’t disappoint any of you with my depictions of these characters, because I certainly don’t want to do their creators or the fans a disservice. 
> 
> I will figure out a publishing schedule to abide by, as concretely as I can, and I apologize for how unorganized I must seem. 
> 
> I sincerely hope you’re all having a good time reading this! Be kind to yourself, drink lots water, get plenty of sleep, and most importantly, don’t forget to love each other!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovelies!  
> I’m pretty new to the ao3 and fan fiction scene, but I hit a high and inspiration struck and I love my boys. This is a big confidence hurdle I’m overcoming, sharing this with all of you, but what the fuck, here we go.
> 
> Feel free to leave comments of criticism, though I hope it’s constructive rather than destructive. I will listen to advice but not hate! 
> 
> I truly believe there’s a place for everyone in the Critical Role fandom and I love love love the idea of being able to share this with people who feel the same. 
> 
> Have an amazing morning, afternoon or evening, whatever suits your fancy, remember to drink lots of water and get plenty of sleep, and most importantly, don’t forget to love each other!


End file.
